Washington, D.C. – TechNet, the national, bipartisan network of innovation economy CEOs and senior executives, today issued the following statement by Executive Vice President, Carl Holshouser, in response to the announcement by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (KY-02) and Vice Chairman John Joyce, M.D. (PA-13) on the creation of a data privacy working group.

“We applaud Chairman Guthrie, Vice Chairman Joyce, and members of the Energy and Commerce Committee for their leadership in launching this critical effort to develop a national data privacy framework.

“A comprehensive, uniform federal standard is essential to protecting Americans’ rights online, strengthening consumer trust, and ensuring our nation’s continued leadership in digital innovation and artificial intelligence.

“With 20 different state privacy laws already enacted and more to come this year, the current landscape is unsustainable. The existing state-by-state patchwork of privacy laws not only creates unnecessary confusion for consumers but also places tremendous burdens on small and medium-sized businesses that are struggling to keep up with an ever-changing compliance environment.

“TechNet has long advocated for a national privacy law that establishes clear rules of the road for businesses and ensures that all Americans, regardless of where they live, have the same strong privacy protections. This working group represents an important step toward getting a comprehensive, bipartisan privacy law across the finish line. We look forward to working with this talented group of lawmakers as they work to advance this national policy imperative.”

As the founder and leader of United for Privacy, which includes over 30 organizations committed to passing a national privacy law, TechNet has been at the forefront of bringing together a broad coalition of stakeholders to push for a single, strong national standard.

For more information on TechNet’s advocacy efforts on privacy, please visit technet.org or endtheprivacypatchwork.com, or contact us at press@technet.org.